Boys Basketball: North Penn quiets Quakertown

TOWAMENCIN — Every loss stings, but the overtime loss to the Quakertown boys basketball team earlier in the season has festered in the front of the minds for North Penn. After that 37-32 defeat three weeks ago, the Knights circled the rematch on the schedule.

Tuesday night, the Knights pressured the Panthers and let their defense do the talking. The smothering effort resulted in a 68-43 Suburban One League Continental Conference victory. It was the Knights’ third consecutive win.

“There is usually a big rivalry between Quakertown and us,” North Penn senior captain Mike Swanson said. “Usually we like to think we are better than them and it’s an easy win, but it is not like that at all. They are a good program and the first time they beat us. We definitely wanted to pay them back.”

Every aspect of defense was on point against the Panthers. Their feet never stopped moving outside the perimeter and forced Quakertown to commit 17 turnovers.

The on-ball pressure by North Penn (8-10, 4-7 conference) not only resulted in steals and double-dribbles, but when the Panthers (4-13, 1-9 conference) did pull up for a jumper, more times than not it was off-the-mark. The Panthers shot 15-for-39 (38 percent), compared to the Knights, who sunk 23 field goals.

The Knights also held the advantage on the glass. It was not one person that pulled down all of the rebounds, but the collective group succeeded.

The collective was the name of the game on Tuesday as every player to dress scored at least two points. Jim Lim came off the bench and scored 12 points, followed by Swanson with 11 and Brian Coleman with 10 points.